"Gingerbread" George Troup's legacy

On 12 November 1906, the new Dunedin Railway Station was officially opened. Designed by George Alexander Troup, nicknamed "Gingerbread George" for his elaborate buildings, built by railway department staff supervised by district engineer Mr McLean and the inspector of works Mr Hall, with the chief engineer J Coom, electrical engineering supervised by H J Wynne -- "We are now going to open the Railway Station with the sun shining upon it," said Sir Joseph Ward at the opening, (Otago Daily Times, 13 November 1906).

Built with the frontage facing west -- photographing the building took a day in which to catch its moods, from just after dawn ...

... to midday ...

... and into early afternoon, when the April sun caught the facade in the best light.

I didn't mind. Out of the over 980 digital images I took of central Dunedin while I was down there earlier this month, photographing Troup's station was one of my main goals.

On 3 June 1904, Ward was on hand (as Minister of Railways) to lay the foundation stone as well.

The weather yesterday morning was threatening and cold, but fortunately the rain held off while the ceremony of laying the foundation stone of Dunedin's new railway station was proceeding. Only a light shower fell, causing the raising of umbrellas all over the platform and the tiered seats, as well as in the concourse of the general public, and then the rain cleared away and the ceremony ended in sunshine. The huge gantry was decorated with flags from end to end, giving it an appearance quite different from its commonplace, look on ordinary occasion? The crane on top was also adorned, and the greenery and other ornamentations placed here and there set off the structure effectively. A line of flags ran from the gantry in the direction of Stuart Street, and above the platform was the inscription, in large letters, "Advance New Zealand's Railways”. A couple of interesting views were shown—a design of the station it intended to erect some years ago on the Cumberland street site and a design of the substantial building now being erected. A carpeted platform was placed around the foundation stone, with seating accommodation for about 200 persons, and at the side there were seats in tiers, capable of holding over 300 persons. The Volunteers stood in front of the platform, and also on the old street line, and the public (of whom there were some thousands) took up positions in all places from which they could command anything at all of a view of the speakers' platform.

Otago Daily Times 4 June 1904

Memorial plaque to railway staff who didn't make it back from WWI.

This appears to be the coat of arms for the Province of Otago.

The ticket office windows. Amongst the Taieri Gorge Railway souvenirs (sold just next door) are images of these windows.

Sadly, this isn't the original floor -- the original needed replacement after subsidence in the 1960s. But the design was copied.

The station is the operating centre for the Taieri Gorge Railway these days. I didn't go on that -- but, maybe one day ...

Launch of Auckland's first draft Unitary Plan

So, last Friday the 15th I went along to the Wynyard Quarter to see the launch of the draft Auckland Unitary Plan. On the way in, a couple of diversions. First -- a 100% electric car (or so it says on the side). Quite a cool look to it.

Just inside the convention centre's foyer -- a model (which looked old. My guess is 1971 centenary) showing the central city in 1939.

St Patrick's Cathedral in the centre ...

Views towards Albert Park ...

Downtown, close to the wharves. The triangle bottom left was where the Harbour Board's memorial was to have been ...

All in all -- I loved this model. Now, if someone could do likewise for today's streetscapes, and have them side by side ...

Flags of all the Local Boards ...

Deputy Mayor Penny Hulse, then ...

... the Mayor himself espousing the virues of the Plan. Good backdrop of the city's reflection in the windows, I thought.

This shot was taken around 3pm, when many of the hundreds swarming the exhibition had left, so it doesn't really do justice to how packed the event was.

But early on, there was Bug Guy.

I still don't know why Bug Guy was there, or what he was promoting or highlighting, but -- he made for a colourful interlude.

There were stalls there from the various departments of Council, but -- I liked the Rural one best. They couldn't bring in a live cow, so they made do with gumboots, sacks of potatoes, some produce, greenery, and funky chooks.

ASB's North Wharf HQ

I must say I'm very impressed with the facade design of the new ASB HQ at North Wharf, Wynyard Quarter. It's a work of art in its own right, and the earth tones facing the harbour is just -- eye-catching.

Opening of New Lynn's Merchant Quarter

On 9 March, I took a bit of time off to go to the opening of New Lynn's new Merchant Quarter development, on McCrae Way.

McCrae Way is a new street, carved through former car park areas, with the Merchant Quarter taking up the site which used to be the New Lynn bus terminal (in yellow circle below. Both images from Auckland Council GIS, lower image from 2006).

All this architecture isn't the be-all and end-all for the development. Auckland Transport have sold the overhead rights to developers.

And they hope the above impression will be the result. It will be served by already-constructed cavernous carpark areas within the development.

With more to come. Carparks, mainly, to encourage folks to use public transport, and to have New Lynn be a "destination". The shop spaces in the Merchant Quarter, at the moment, are still empty and up for lease.

McCrae Way -- naming a new road after a chap who didn't own this piece of land (he owned the paddocks on which adjacent Lynnmall was built), and who committed suicide in the late 1960s, after a career running one of the most notorious bus companies in Auckland. Weird quirks like this is part of why I love my city.

A pity, though, that the newly-planted trees are dying in the 2012-2013 Auckland Drought.

Still, nice music on the day ...

... a talented fairy on stilts ...

... and bouncy castles and street games for the kids of all ages.

Time will tell what happens to this latest bit of New Lynn's story.